1. Technical Field
This invention relates to management of an operating system image assigned to a client machine in a network. More specifically, the invention relates to dynamic management of an assignment of the operating system image to the client machine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An operating system image, herein after referred to as image, is a representation of a computer program and its related data such as the kernel, file systems, libraries, and programs of the computer at a given point in time. Servers deploy the images to client machines so that the client machines have the same base software. The image can be installed on a client machine that has no software, or it can replace existing software on a client machine.
In computer networking, a media access control address, hereinafter MAC address, is a unique identifier assigned to a network adapter or a network interface card (NIC). More specifically, the MAC address is a hardware address associated with a network adapter and is used to identify an adapter on a local area network (LAN). It is known in the art to assign an operating system image to a client machine based upon the MAC address of the network adapter. However, the prior art does not address the aspect of portability of a client machine and adjustment of the operating system image absent user interaction and based upon a changed physical location of the client machine. This omitted aspect of the prior art prohibits dynamic adjustment of the role of the client machine subject to the portability thereof. Accordingly, there is a need to employ a tool to dynamically modify the functionality of one or more client machines subject to the physical location of the machine(s).